Operation Firebird
by dracox-serdriel
Summary: Set immediately after 05x20 Firebird. Hook waits until he knows they've gone before leaving the depths of the Underworld. It's time for him to move on.


Hook was unsurprised when a clattering heralded the elevator's arrival. He suspected that, if Emma didn't send it back down, then Charming or Henry would.

It took everything he had to wait, but he did. He waited until the world stopped shaking. He waited until he felt the emptiness that could only be explained by her departure, by half his heart leaving with her. Once there was no hope of seeing Emma again, he began his own ascent.

He promised her he would move on, and he meant to keep that promise. But first, he needed to know that they were all safe, that they all returned the land of the living. And he needed a proper goodbye with Milah, or whatever remained of her. She had lost herself to that accursed river for his sake, trying to rescue him; the very least he could do was to say a few words in farewell.

Before he reached the top floor, his wheels were turning in full force. What if Hades had lied? What if there was a way to rescue those trapped in the river? What if he could save Milah?

It wasn't as if he was alone. There were countless others in the Underworld who lost loved ones to that briny deep, including Cruella. As much as he loathed the thought of working with her, she cared about James. The question was, were her affections strong enough to accept his help?

He laughed as he stepped out of the elevator. Did he really just make a plan to work with the denizens of the Underworld? Or was it simply an elaborate scheme to put off moving on so he can wait for Emma?

Killian nearly walked past a conspicuously-placed storybook as he took his leave of the library. A mere glance at the cover conjured something bittersweet inside him. He regretted not saying goodbye to the lad, but he was honored that Henry had thought him worthy of the tome.

It was thicker than he remembered. Perhaps it was providence. Why would Henry leave behind his first pages as the Author? He wouldn't, not without reason, which meant that it must be of some use here in the Underworld. Who, besides Henry, possessed the means to learn nearly anything, including how to save those lost to that cursed river?

Killian opened it to the newest pages, now certain that Henry had provided him the means to rescue Milah and everyone else who had been trapped in this realm. He found a new chapter entitled "The River of Souls," and there was a note penciled in by the title:

 _Hook, skip to the end. Trust me._  
 _\- Henry_

Once he read it, the handwritten text vanished, and he wondered if he hadn't imagined it. Nevertheless, he flipped to the last page. What he saw there would've stopped his heart, had it been beating.

There was a loose sheaf stuck between the last page and the cover, its contents meant only for Killian. He read it over several times, dumbfounded.

 _Killian Jones ascends the elevator and immediately discovers the storybook left behind by the Author. He turns to the last page and reads._

 _The Apprentice had lied to the Author, at least in part. No one can wield the Author's Pen to revive the dead, not in any of the realms of the living, but the Underworld is not for the living and so has a kind of... exception. Cruella de Vil had been right about one thing: it could restore her to life._

 _But the Author would never use his power to revive a villain like her. No, if he were to bring someone back, it would be a hero of unmatched bravery who had overcome the worst parts of himself. A man who defeated the darkness within. A man whose heart was brimming with True Love. A man with a family waiting for him._

 _A man like Killian Jones._

 _Killian rereads the pages several times before he accepts the truth of the words before him. He leaves the storybook, for it has its own means of spreading knowledge. Cruella and her ilk will never be able to stop the hope it represents._

 _Though it is the afternoon, no one sees him as he walks to the graveyard. He approaches the headstone that once bore his name, only to discover it wiped clean, a blank slate. Moments later, a portal sweeps him away, whisking him back to Storybrooke, reuniting his body and soul in a fiery conflagration that restores him to his physical state as he was before Arthur struck him with Excalibur._

 _His eyes open as his breath renews. Killian Jones lives._

 _The first thing he says is..._

"Bloody brilliant, lad!"

* * *

 **Author's notes** : Operation Firebird was written on 6 May 2016 as a drabble posted on Tumblr and originally entitled Operation Firebird, Take 3.


End file.
